Senator Bob Graham is perhaps best known nationally for a succession of missed opportunities. Three times Mr. Graham, a Florida Democrat, was vetted for the vice presidency and passed over by presidential candidates.

He has compiled a legislative record heavy on Florida issues and the sort of policy changes talked about in Congressional Quarterly, not on ''Meet the Press.''

When he drew considerable publicity two years ago, the accounts were hardly flattering. They were about his habitual scribbling in a pocket notebook about the minutiae of his daily life, including the precise time he woke up every day and when and where he rented videos.

Now Mr. Graham is seizing what many say may be his best opportunity to burnish his image.

A confluence of events has thrust him to the center of the inquiry into the Sept. 11 attacks being conducted by the Senate intelligence committee that he leads and the House intelligence panel. Not only will he help shape the national response to the terrorist assault, but perhaps, at age 65, he may achieve the prominence that has eluded him.

Almost from the day he arrived in Washington in 1987, Mr. Graham lobbied hard for a seat on the intelligence committee. The panel was involved in the kind of detail work that appealed to his bookish instincts: heavy analytical lifting, much of it done out of sight. But even after he unexpectedly became committee chairman last year when Democrats took control of the Senate, the role did not provide the national stature predicted for him when he was elected to the Senate as a popular moderate with crossover appeal.

The intelligence inquiry is giving him his greatest public exposure since coming to Capitol Hill.

With sharp statements in recent days about the extent of the intelligence failures before Sept. 11, Mr. Graham has eased concerns by some of his Democratic colleagues that he would not oversee an aggressive investigation.

At the same time he is the chief author of a prescription drug plan, a major Democratic domestic initiative, and he is waging a political battle in Florida with the president's brother Gov. Jeb Bush over the governor's move to abolish the state university's Board of Regents. Mr. Graham said the level of his prominence is not for him to judge.

''You can't play good tennis or hit the golf ball if what you are thinking about is how other people are perceiving you,'' he said. ''In this business you have to do what you think is appropriate with some confidence in the end that it will work out.''

Colleagues and analysts say the very qualities that have limited his profile in the Senate -- a cautious manner and a chronic inability to deliver a glib sound bite -- suit his role as one of the public faces of the intelligence inquiry into the nation's ability to fight terrorists.

''The country is finding out what a lot of us have always known,'' Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, said. ''Bob can be calming, he doesn't engage in hyperbole, that is not his style. He is a steady guy and a smart guy.''

Mr. Graham's confidants say they hope his new exposure will finally elevate him to the top tier of legislators on Capitol Hill -- and allow him to rebuild his image, a process that started when he reshuffled his senior staff after the 2000 election.

Members of his inner circle say that Mr. Graham was stung by the news media's focus on his notebooks and hope the current attention also washes away any wrong impression.

''That was the most outrageous thing that happened to him,'' said Charles Reed, the chancellor of the California State University system, a close friend. ''That hurt him, all the snide remarks and offhand things people said.''

After the terrorist attacks, as the Congressional inquiry began to take shape, some in Congress asked if Mr. Graham would be tough enough to take on the intelligence professionals and how heavily he would be influenced by Representative Porter J. Goss, the Florida Republican who is chairman of the House intelligence panel. Mr. Goss, a former C.I.A. officer, is a close friend of Mr. Graham despite their party differences.

After sifting through volumes of material, Mr. Graham has come to the view that Sept. 11 was theoretically preventable, saying in a recent interview, ''It could have been avoided if you had gotten all the information that was available before the eyes of a single human being or a common group of human beings so they could have had the chance to see the pattern those individual pieces were beginning to form.''

Some committee members said such comments show Mr. Graham ''is his own man,'' and Senate Democratic leaders said they have full confidence in him. While others might have raised questions, ''not Senator Daschle and me,'' said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the assistant majority leader, referring to the majority leader, Tom Daschle of South Dakota. ''Bob Graham is a professional,'' Senator Reid said. ''I don't agree with some of his policy stands, but I have great respect for how he gets there.''

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Mr. Graham got to the Senate by defeating a Republican incumbent, Paula Hawkins, after serving two terms as governor that encompassed the Mariel boatlift and some of the worst of Florida's growing pains. His willingness to administer the death penalty brought him conservative backing, while his emphasis on education was widely popular.

In Washington, he concentrated on such Florida issues as restoring the Everglades and changing the formula under which federal money for highways is allocated to states.

''He puts the state's interests ahead of his own personal political ambition and his own party,'' said Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Mr. Reed, the California chancellor who was chief of staff to Mr. Graham when he was governor, said the senator's style worked against him in Washington, where a willingness to shoot from the lip can have its rewards. Mr. Graham chooses his words carefully, which can make him a dull guest on the talk shows.

''He is not a bomb thrower, someone looking for headlines, looking for credit,'' said Mr. Reed, pointing to Mr. Graham's success at guaranteeing the tax deductibility of savings plans for college tuition. ''He celebrates that himself, but he doesn't need to tell anybody.''

Mr. Graham was first considered as a vice presidential candidate by Michael S. Dukakis in 1988. Bill Clinton gave him serious thought in 1992. He was also mentioned as a possible running mate for Al Gore in 2000.

In July 2000, Mr. Graham was profiled in a Time magazine article that focused on his note-taking habit, which he began in 1977. People who worked on the Gore campaign say they do not believe that was a factor in the decision to choose Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, but Mr. Graham and his allies were not happy with the fallout.

''They presented it as sort of being an eccentricity,'' Mr. Graham said. ''To me it is just another tool to try to stay organized.''

If the notebook did figure in Mr. Gore's decision, allies of Mr. Graham say, it was a costly mistake considering that the election came down to Florida.

Mr. Reed said he recently dined with the former vice president in California, adding that he posed this: ''I asked him if he thought we would be here tonight if you had Bob Graham on the ticket. He said, 'I am not going to answer that question.' ''

Mr. Graham, who decided against a return to Florida to oppose Jeb Bush in the governor's race in 1998, may indirectly face Mr. Bush on the ballot this year. With the backing of the Florida Legislature, Mr. Bush abolished the Board of Regents overseeing the state university system. Mr. Graham, angered by the move, is behind a ballot initiative that would reverse it.

''He has a point of view as to how education should be organized and managed in the state, and I have a different idea,'' Mr. Graham said. ''The people of Florida in November will decide which of those visions they want to follow.''

Though an aide said that Mr. Graham would consider ''a more prominent position'' if one came along, the senator said he was content. ''I don't have any plans to deviate from what I am doing now,'' said Mr. Graham, who would be up for a fourth term in 2004.

One political analyst said the fact that he has been passed over three times for the vice presidential spot makes him suspect as a national political commodity. Others say he has to be given a look because of the importance of Florida.

''He comes across as an adult and I think the country is going to place a premium on that in the next election,'' said Carter Eskew, a Democratic consultant. ''Experience and gravitas are going to matter, and Graham has a lot to offer on those fronts.''